Barrel-type internal-combustion engine construction



BARREL-TYPE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE CONSTRUCTION INVENTOR ATTOF/VZK 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Fkflm rl. ibzkz BY: 4/

F. L. FULKE March 3, 1953 Flled March 15, 1951 March 3, 1953 FULKE 2,630,100

BARREL-TYPE INTERNALCOMBUSTION ENGINE CONSTRUCTION Filed March 15, 1951 2 SHEETS SHEET 2 1 INVENTOI.

Patented Mar. 3, 1953 OFFICE" BARREL-TYPE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE CONSTRUCTION Frank Ll Fulkel Terre Haute, Ind.

Application March. 15, 1951,-Serial. No. 215,842

1 Claim. (CL 121-119.)

The present invention relates to internal combustion engines of the four stroke cycle type and to improved means for utilizing the energy of the explosions of fuel charges in the cylinders thereof and for converting the resultant reeiprocatory movement of the engine pistons into rotation of a power delivery shaft. The primary objects of my invention are as follows.

To provide a more effective conversion of the power derived from an explosion in a cylinder of an internal combustion engine into power delivered by a powershaft.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific constructi'ons illustrated and; described, so long as the scope of the appended claim is not violated.

Fig. l is a somewhat diagrammatic, fragmental section through an engine constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. l and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a, fragmental section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig.1 1 and. looking in i the direction of the arrows Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section, upon a somewhat enlarged scale, of a modified form of piston and power-transmitting means; and

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on the line 5-5 of- Fig. 4 and looking in. the direction of the arrows.

. incorporated, would have a very definitely beneficial influence, but many of which cannot; be desirably incorporated in a conventional crankshaft engine. Any or all of them can be beneficially incorporated in the engine I have. dis.- closed and claimed in my copending application, Serial Number 515,749, filed December 227', 19.43, of which the present application is a division; but those which are particularly contemplated by the structure claimed herein are as follows:

('l) Elimination of all lateral pressures upon the piston during any of its strokes.

(2) A more rugged and durable connection between the piston and the powershaft comprising a single large polished steel ball in line frictional engagement only with a flywheel surface, elimi- Hitting the conventional wrist pin bearing and the connecting rod bearing.

In Fig. l powershaft i has spaced tandem flywheels 2, 2' preferably detachably bolted as at to hubs 35, which are keyed as at 35, to the power-shaft. In the space between these flywheels is interposed a plurality of cylinders 3 having their bores parallel with the axis of powershaft i and being radially grouped about the powershaft. In each cylinder is a pair of hollow pistons i, i" approaching the midpoint of the cylinder during the compression and the, exhaust strokes and moving away from the midpoint during the power and intake strokes so that recoil forces present in conventional engines are absorbed and eliminated. All the right hand pistons d are connected to, flywheel 2 and. all. the left In a conventional crankshaft type engine of:

the four stroke, cycle type the movement of a piston is exactly the same for all four strokes. Its movement is fixed in duration to exactly onehalf turn of the crankshaft, and its velocities during all four strokes are exactly fixed and portant factors which, if they could be desirably hand pistons 4' are connected to flywheel 2 whereby all the pistons are connected to common power-shaft I.

Spark plug 9 located attire. midpointwill ignite an explosive fuel mixture compressed between piston heads 5, 6'".

A suitable port is provided at. one side. of the middle portion of each cylinder 3 for the admission to or exhaustion of gases from. cylinder 3 by means of intake valve 1 and exhaust valve 8. A further valve 15 is provided for a purpose which will bedescribed.

A charge of compressed fuel vapor ignited by spark plug 9 will act upon piston heads 6, 6' to force them apart. It is to be especiallynoted that, although the two pistons deliver power by reciprocation in opposite directions upon a common line, they transform this energy into rotary movement of a single powershaft by applying their energy to flywheels 2, 2 at right angles to the line of piston travel, by means of grooves l3, l3 and their angularity.

0n the faces of flywheels 2, 2 which areof sub- 'in any direction about its own center.

stantial Width are formed grooves l3, l3 and these grooves are of substantially semicircular cross section. These grooves I3, [3 wind laterally of the faces of flywheels 2, 2 from right to left and left to right as viewed in Fig. 1. Each of these grooves winds about the peripheral face of its flywheel upon a path which travels from a point adjacent one axial edge of that face to a point adjacent the opposite axial edge of that face, and then back to the starting point, in the fashion clearly disclosed in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 the elements to the right-hand side of the midpoint of cylinder 3 and the elements to the left thereof work in unison and do the same things, so that in giving a detailed description of the right-hand side of my improved engine it may not be necessary at all times to mention the left-hand side and say that those elements are doing the same thing.

Piston 4 is bored at its side as at it (see Fig. 4) and into bore 14 may be placed a stud, l formed on a side of connecting rod 16 to associate it with the piston. Rod [6 is bored at I? (Fig. 1) and provided with a suitable bearing M3 for stud is of a cup shaped element 20 having a substantially semispherical cup 2| holding a large hollow hardened and polished ball 22. The engagement of ball 22 with cup 2| is an engagement in which full floating ball 22, is perfectly free to turn or move Cup- 2! may also rotate on stud l9 journalled in rod to.

Approximately half of ball 22 is engaged by cup 2| andapproximately the other half of ball 22 projects into groove i3 of flywheel 2, this groove being of semi-circular outline to permit a full line contact with the surface of ball 22, and be- 'il'lg hardened, ground and polished.

An annular end housing 28 supports internally an annular series of guide elements 21 corresponding in number to the cylinder-piston assemblies of the engine, said guide elements being secured to said housing by screws 29 or the like. Each of said guide elements is formed to provide a trough paraxial with the shaft 5, and having a floor 26 and upstanding lateral walls 24 and 25 Shims 36 may be interposed between guide elements 2'! and their seats in the housing 28 for obtaining a' close fit of the related parts.

"A disc shaped end housing 3i supports my powershaft l by means of suitable bearings 32, and has open spaces as at 33 closed by cover plates 34.

If cover plate 34 is removed, guide element 2"! may, after removing screws 29, be withdrawn endwise from annular housing 28. Stud 55 of rod [6 may then be withdrawn from bore M in the piston 4 and when this happens ball 22 will disengage from groove 13 of flywheel 2 so that the piston 4, rod i6, cup 20 and ball 22 may be readily withdrawn from the engine for repair or rcplacement. 1

The reaction of the balls 22 upon the groove l3 will be such as to tend towipe the groove surface free of oil. Therefore, as is clearly il- .4 lustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, I provide a series of lubricant pipes 55, all connected to a header 56 leading from a source of lubricant under pressure, and each formed with a plurality of delivery ports 51. Each of such pipes 55 is so positioned that it lays a curtain of oil upon the entire axial extent of the peripheral surface of the flywheel immediately in advance of each of the balls 22; i. e., upon an axially-extending portion of that surface which is just about to move into contact with such ball. Thus, a quantity of oil is deposited in the groove substantially coincident with the line of engagement therewith of each ball 22, thus to be interposed between the ball and the groove surface to minimize wear therebetween.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate a modification of the connecting rod and guide illustrated in Fig. l. The connecting rod 60 is at one end detachably connected to piston oi as previously described and at its other end is flattened at 62 and perforated with an eye 63 sized closely to accommodate the diameter of ball 54. Flywheel flange 65 is provided with a cam groove 66 of reduced semicircular cross section and it will be noted that this flange has been substantially reduced in weight. Preferably the flange 65 may be cast with groove 36 almost to size, so that minimum machining and grinding will be necessary to finish it.

Ball 64 takes into flywheel groove 66 and at its opposite side takes into a longitudinal groove 61 of reduced semicircular cross section formed in guide block 68. At its middle, ball 64 fits into eye 63 of connecting rod 60 so that it will move with rod 60 at all times. Obviously ball 64 now not only has the function of propelling the flywheel but, by its engagement in groove 61 of guide block 68 it also has the functions of guiding the reciprocation of the piston 6| upon a straight l1ne and of resisting thrusts angularly related to the line of reciprocation of the piston GI and occasloned by its propelling engagement with flywheel groove 66. It may be noted that all engagements of ball 64 with all other elements are line engagements, namely, in flywheel groove 66, guide block groove 67 and connecting rod eye 63, whereby friction is reduced, there being no appreciable surface frictional area whatever. Ball 64 is of course full floating in that it is perfectly free to constantly shift its spherical surface whereby the three line contacts upon its surface are constantly shifting and no focusing of wear upon ball 54 can occur. It is also to be understood that pressure jets of oil are constantly playing upon all engaging surfaces during the operation of the-engine. In the foregoing modification it should also be evident, as in Fig. 1, that by endwise removal of guideblock 68 the piston, the connecting rod, and the ball, may be readily removed from the engine for inspection or repair, and shims 15 conveniently may adjust the proper fit of associated parts.

I have not complicated my drawings nor shall I unnecessarily clutter up my description with details about some of the things just as common to conventional engines as to mine, such things being fully understood by any person familiar with the art. I show nothing of a cooling system, nor of those portions of a lubricating system, apart from my tubes 55 and their directly associated parts. The arrangement for water jacketing, etc., may be easily accomplished by ordinary mechanical ingenuity, no invention being nvolved. A conventional distributor may be employed, connected to gear 54 secured outside my engine to powershai't l. Conventional carburetor and fuel ump mechanisms may be employed. A conventional starting motor 160 may be secured to end housing 3| with its starting gear adapted to mesh with an annular gear secured to the side of flywheel 2.

I contemplate the middle unit of my engine as an annular casting having all the cylinders accurately bored through it at once by a suitable machine tool. Naturally this casting would be suitably cored for the water jacketing and for the inlet and exhaust passages. Provision would also be made for the passages through which all the push rods 49 are disposed radially to powershaft I, also for mounting rocker arms 50 suitably.

I contemplate my two end units 28, 28 as annular castings properly machined for receiving guide elements 21.

I contemplate my flywheels 2, 2' as wide annular bands with grooves I3, l3 formed by suitable machine tools cooperating with a special cam which will control and synchronize the lateral feeding movement to form groove l3 in conjunction with the rotary feeding movement necessary to machine groove [3 peripherally about flywheel 2.

I claim as my invention:

In an internal combustion engine having a powershaft and a plurality of cylinders disposed in an annular series about the axis of said powershaft with pistons reciprocable in said cylinders in planes parallel with said powershaft, an engine body comprising an annular cylinder element and an annular guide-supporting element coaxially bolted to said cylinder element, a piston rod for each piston, a plurality of guide members, one for each piston, removably secured within said supporting element, each guide member guidingly engaging a portion of a piston rod, and a disc shaped end closure element bolted to said guide-supporting element, said closure element being provided with a plurality of apertures, one for each guide member, each such aperture being proportioned, designed and arranged to permit the passage therethrough of its associated guide member and further being disposed in alignment with the line of movement of said piston rod portion, a cover plate for each aperture removably secured to said closure element, and a bearing for said powershaft provided by said closure element.

FRANK L. FULKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,479,918 Lleo et al Jan. 8, 1924 2,118,804 Anderson May 31, 1938 2,170,058 Zarkin Aug. 22, 1939 

